The Bridge #70 [Sondra W as guest]
in which my mom takes the lead
Hello
Today’s edition of The Bridge is guest-written: It’s me Jeffrey (or Jeff, depending on how you know me) writing this intro. But once I wrap things up here, it’s guest-written from here on out. Our guest today is someone rather special. I’ve known her quite a long time, and she taught me (indirectly or directly) a lot about how to live and how to be kind and how to eat healthy. I owe at least half of my existence to her, and I’m quite happy to be welcoming up on the stage (of this newsletter) someone equal parts courageous and easy-going, dedicated and dearly-loved… my mom, Sondra Weidman! 👏👏👏
Something Serious
It’s spring! What a perfect time to get out in (and ‘become one’ with) nature.
Everything is alive, from the over-looked dandelion to the magnificent cherry blossom.
Hues of every shade of green share their energy. (& the pollen is active too!) Do you feel it? (Ahchoo!)
For me personally when it comes to being outside and connecting with nature, I know I need it. My well-being depends on getting outside on a regular basis.
Staying grounded (in touch with the dirt, feeling the earth beneath my feet), it also helps me better relate to others.
In a world full of disappointments, unpredicability and change, I deliberately plan activities each day — ‘me time’ — that connect me to nature: a few hours hiking or a power walk with a friend or 30 minutes in the garden or a few brief moments bare foot in the grass leaning on a tree.
What about you? Have you gotten outside today?
Something Interesting
Think Outside the Gallery (Afar magazine, feat. Andy Goldsworthy)
Getting out in Nature — as anyone can tell you — is a great space for reflecting on life’s meaning, away from other distractions and connected to greenery. For me, being in nature feels freeing.
Recently I learned of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist originally from Scotland who has traveled the world creating art that interacts directly with the natural world. His genius has given me a new appreciation for the phrase “becoming one with nature.”
He thoroughly and sometimes literally plunges himself into his projects, abandons himself to a creative collaboration with nature. He has a studio he visits occasionally but most of the time his artistic work is done in Nature itself. Often his artwork IS Nature, plain and simple, creatively re-arranged.
With clear intention yet usually unclear direction, he patiently constructs his art with whatever is available for however long it takes. He has photographs or video taken while he works to show the tenacity required and the fragile temporality built in to his creative process. Many of his works fall apart soon after completion. Some are meant to, others not. Whether intended or accidental, the undoing of his art is something he also considers part of the process. Nothing is “wrecked”; it’s all part of the process becoming one with nature.
Something Groovy
“Society” by Eddie Vedder (from the film Into the Wild)
I love the song “Society” because it expresses so much of how I feel. Consumerist society encourages us to want more than we have and we begin to think we need — when in fact we often have enough already.
The song (and the film in which it is featured) puts words to a frustration I feel with contradictions and superficialities that mark society. Many of us seek connection and freedom, and sometimes these two desires contradict themselves. Often, we humans make and consume and although we’re creating things we seem to be never satisfied.
Maybe Nature can teach us something here. There is a natural depth, roots growing deep beneath the surface, that allows for death and regeneration. Plants can die and grow again, as long as the soil and larger ecosystem are healthy. They’re interconnected.
Human society can be frustrate me sometimes. Other times, when someone (like, in a song or film or otherwise) creatively puts words to how I feel, I feel soothed. It’s a virtuous circle.
Oh, it's a mystery to me /
We have a greed, with which we have agreed /
And you think you have to want more than you need /
Until you have it all you won't be free /Society, you're a crazy breed /
I hope you have enjoyed exploring these ideas with me.
Jeffrey’s Mom